Favorite Comics

First Shout-out

There are so many great strips out there and I had a very difficult time deciding on my first week’s offering. For no particular reason, I decided on a strip called Zombie Boy by Mark Stokes.

I have been avoiding “zombie strips” for a while now. Seems like everyone is jumping on the zombie bandwagon just like they did a few years ago with vampires. I actually became aware of this strip during a comic contest and avoided it due solely on the title. However, through a network of comic strip artist’s, I ran across Mark and I decided to give his strip a chance and became an instant fan. I found the strip actually had it’s roots long before the Walking Dead craze took off. In fact, the current strip is a incarnation of a more serious comic book that Mark had self published back in 1987. After dying a graceful death (several times apparently), Mark brought it back to life in it’s current comic strip format back in 2010.

The main character is Zombie Boy (Morgan), an eleven year old who, “had a little accident on family vacation to voodoo island.” He is surrounded by a cast of characters that range from a psychic little girl to a dog who likes to become the leaf/snow bandit to a bug who likes to hot tub in a cuppa tea.

Since I’m a visual person, the artwork is always going to grab me first. The artwork is loose and impressively clean giving a polished look to the strip. The feel of the art reminds me of early Johnny Hart style from the B.C. comic strip. His character designs are unique, fun, and charming. Even his cast descriptions are a treat. Mark has a nice sense of color with every color in it’s place and there for a reason . Zombie Boy is done in a four-panel horizontal format and every panel is nicely blocked and laid out with great perspective and composition.

But comics don’t rely art alone, there’s also the writting. The strip shifts between single day gags to story-arcs with the humor mostly character based. Story arcs are cleverly written and intriguing enough to keep me coming back the next post to find out what’s going to happen next.

I like this strip, a lot. I recommend it if your looking for some new humor to take up your busy week. Mark updates his strip every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If that’s not enough for you, there are years of archives to keep you busy. Check ’em out.

Discussion (4) ¬

Thanks so much for featuring Zombie Boy in your first shout-out, P.J., I’m truly honored! You really did your research on my work, too! As you well know, being consistent with quality, writing, drawing and deadlines is a real challenge, and your very kind and supportive words are greatly appreciated! Also, thanks Bill and Tony for your encouraging comments!